Machine for feeding work into and out of welding-furnaces



F. l. BORIE.

MACHINE FOR F'EEDING WORK INTO AND OUT 0F WELDING FUBNACES. APPLICATION FILED DEVC. 4. 1918.

1,372,594, Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET I.

F. J. BDR-IE. l v .MACHINE FOR FEEDING WORK INTO AND OUT 0F WELDING FUHNACES. Y

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4| 1918.

Patented Mar. 22, 1921.

3 SHEES-SHEEI 2.

Il u @wm w N N F. LBORIE.

MACHINE FOH'FEEDING WORK INTO AND OUT OF WELDING FUBNACES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 4| 1918- Patnted Mar. 22

3 SHEETS-SHEEI 3 www? \N wm .MNUWW M, .m1,

lllfflTED STATES PATENT OFFICIEL.`

raam: J. renin,A or Leanne, oiiro, AssieNoB. To NA'rroNAL TUBE COMPANY, .a con- PcnafrioN or NiiW Jnnsnv.

MACHINE ron FEEDING wenn INT0 AND our or WELDING-runnnciis.

To all Iwhom 'it may concern Be it lrnown that I, FRANK J. Bouin, a citizen of the United States,` residing in Lorain,` Lorain county, Ohio, have invented certain.

new and useful Improvements in Machines for Feeding Worlr Into and Out of Welding Furnaces, of which the following is a speci lication. i

Thisinvention relatesto an improved ap paratus for feeding work into a heating furnace prior to its being subjected to pressure of welding rolls or other pressure exerting devices, and to means for pushing the work `out of the welding furnace into engagement with the pressure exerting means;

The embodiment of the invention illus ti'ated is particularly adapted for feeding bent slrelp or partly formed pipeinto and out of the welding furnace. Heretofore in handling pipe `or slrelp` at the welding furnaces some of the operations have been performed manually, particularlythe pushing of the heated shelp from the furnace into the bite of thepressure exerting means. ln practice, experience has proven this to be a very inefficient and laborious way of handling the heated pipe and it has been difficult to find workmen who would continually worlr at 'this occupation.`

By the utilization ofthe apparatus herein disclosed, the operator is not required to supply the driving force necessary to push the pipe from the furnace, nor is he required to approach to such close proximity to the hot furnace as was necessary with the means formerly providedfor doiniir this work.

(')ne of the objects of the invention is to provide an apparatus for pushing the worh into the furnace. Another object is toprovide a power driven mechanism for pushing the work out of the `furnace and into en gagement with the pressure exerting device for completing thewelding. A further ob-` ject is to mount the work feeding device and the push out mechanism on a structure which is movable transversely along the front of the furnace so that the work may be pushed into and out of the furnace at various lo-` cations tlius permitting a numberof pieces of work to be successively charged into the furnace at different transverse locations. A

further object is to organize and `coordinate the various elements described herein so as to effectively perform the functions set forth.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patelltd lllal'. 22, 1921.

Application led December 4, 1918. Serial No. 265,277'.

Other objects will be apparent from the fol lowing description and the claims.

Figure 1 is a `plan viewshowing the general arrangement of my improved appaia tus, a central portion of the pusher runways being broken away to permit of illustration on such a scale as to permit of a clear delineation of the various parts;

Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section on the saine scale of Fig. 1, substantially on the line `-2--2 thereof;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged transverse section on the line 3-3 of ig. 1, showing one of the supporting trucks of the carriage in eleva tion and the pusher runways in transverse section. For convenience of illustration the buggies which travel on the runways are assumed to be in their forward position and are therefore shown in this figure;

Fig. l is a detail side elevation of one of the pusher buggies;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail side view of the pusher bar which is adapted to be actuated by the buggy shown in Fig. 4C;

Fig. 6 is a detail transverse section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 1, showing a piece of bent slrelp supported in the work trough;

Fig. 7 is a detail view illustrating one of the pusher buggies with the picker arnr thereof in engagement with a piece of bent skelp;

Fig. 8 is a diagrammatic view showing the push `out buggy and pusher barin the act of moving a piece of bent slrelp into engagement with the welding pressure rolls.` l

Referring to Figs. 'l and 2, the structure iilustrated consists of a carriage 10 compris?` ing supporting trucks 1l and 12 which` are provided with flanged wheels 13-13, 14e-'lei and 14f li7 whichare arranged 'to ride on rails 15, 16 and 16 extending transversely in front of the welding furnace Ji. track rail 15 is suitably supported on` the girder 17 and the track rails 16 and 16 are supported on suitable bases 18 and 18 seat ed on theconcrete footings 19-19 as shown in Fig. 2r

The carriage 10 includes runways 2O and tively. The channel bars 23 of the runway V2l are also secured near their forward ends Vtothe truckframe 11 and at their rear ends tothe truck frame 12 and also to a supplemental supporting truck 24: which is supported-on the wheels let above referred to. As thus constructed it is clear that the carriageV l together 'with the runways 20 and 2lY is movable-as a unit transversely along the front face of the welding furnace A.

The runways 20 'and 2l are each provided Y with a pusher buggy for feeding the skelp into and out of the welding furnace. These A picker arm 3l-shown in Figs. land 'T is Y eoY buggies are similar in Yconstruction and are arranged to be moved longitudinally along the runways'as will-now be described.

Thelbugjv 25 herein termed the push-in bueev travels alone the runway 2l on rails 235 secured to the flanges of the channels 23. This buggy consists ofa frame -26 having a narrow neck 2 to' permit its passage between the inner-marginal edges 23-28 of the work supporting trough members 29.29 which are carried by the channel bars 23.v Flanged wheels 30 are rotatably mounted on the framer ofthe buggy25 and slidably support said buggy ,on the rails 23 of the runway 21.

supported in a socketed boss 32 of the pushin buggy and said picker arm 3i is provided with a forked end 33 for engagement with 4one end'of the Vbent skelp or pipe.

The push-out buggy 3ft is identical in construction with the push-in buggy above described except that it is provided with an arm 35 carried `by a short bar 35 which is ixedly secured in upstanding` bosses 34 formed on the push-out buggy 3-l shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The arm 35 extends laterally from the buggy as shown in Figs. l and 3 and isslotted'at 36 for the reception of the pusher bar 38.

The push-out buggy is provided with `flanged wheels 39-39 adapted to travel on Yrails 40-40 which are secured to the fianges of the channel bars 22 of the runway 20.

In order to feed the bent skelp into the furnace the push-in buggy 25-is moved along the runway2l by means of a cable 41. one end. of which Vis secured to a boss 25 near the forward end of the buggy from which point it extends forwardly and passes over an idle sheave 42 mounted in suitable bearto the truck '24. A. gear 27 is secured to the Y- vshaft 4- 8 on .which the drum 4 is carried,

Ysa-idgear meshing with a pinion '-19 which is secured to a shaft-49 driven bya motor 50 through the spur gearing 51 as shown in Fig. l. The motor 50 is supported on the truck frame 24 and is therefore movable with the carriage 10.

The push-out buggy 34 is similarly propelled by a cable 52, the ends of which are secured to the bosses 53 and 5a formed on the bugg the cable passing over a front idle sheave 5o and several times around the rear driving drum 56. The driving drum is driven by gears 57 and 58 and the shaft 59 which is in turn driven by the spur gearing 60 from the motor 6l mounted on the truck frame l2 of the carriage 10. The carriage l0 is provided with links 62 and 63 as shownY in Fig. l which are connected to suitable means not shown for propelling the-said carriage along the transversely extending rails l5. 16 and 16.

In operation the bent skelp or pipe S is .placed on the work trough 29 as shown in Fig. 6, and the carriage then moved laterally to position the center line of the trough in alinement with one of the openings a of the furnace. The operator there- Aupon manipulates a suitable switch not shown to start the motor 50 which will cause the drum 44 to be rotated. thereby moving the push-in buggy 26 toward the furnace and causing the picker arm 3l to engage the skelp and shove it through the Y opening a into the welding furnace. After the skelp has been in the furnace a sulicient length of time to bring it up to a welding temperature the carriage l0 will be moved transversely to such a position that the pushout bar 38 will be lined up with the opening a whereupon the motor (l will be started by the operator to cause the pushout buggy to bring the forked end 3S of the pusher bar 38 into juxtaposition with the heated skelp. The operator by manipulating the handle 381 can then teeter the bar on the arm 35 and shove the forked end 38'b1 into engagement with the skelp S whereupon a continued movement of the buggy 3 will. by eoaction of the collar 38 of the pusher bar and the arm 35 carried by the buggy, cause the skelp to be pushed out of the furnace and into engagement with the pressure exerting welding rolls R as shown in Fig. 8. After the skelp has been pushed out a sufficient distance the motor is reversed toV withdraw the pusher ba' and at this time the collar 38d coacts with the arm 35 on the buggy in its rearward travel.

From ,the foregoing description it is clear that with my improved apparatus the work may be readily brought into alinement with different openings in the furnace and thereby permit of successively feedingr different pieces of work thereto. After the various pieces have reached the required temperature, the carriage l() will be moved transversely across the face of the furnace bringllll ing the pushlout bar into alinement with the work whereupon the`motor 6l may be operated to cause the buggy and 38 to push the skelp into engagement with the welding rolls. u

In some instances it may be practical to mount the arm for manipulating the pusher bar directly on the same buggy to which the picker arm is carried. However, experience teaches `that such an arrangement is rather ineiicient as the runway is of such great length that considerable time is lost in moving the buggy back and forth to bring it in proper position, iirst for engagement of the picker bar with the work to be pushed in and later in position to line the push-out bar with the work in the furnace. `Whereas with the arrangement shown the bugg'ies being driven independently of one another, one may be doing its wdrk while the other is being brought into position to subsequently be brought into play. It is also clear that in some instances both buggies may be simultaneously operated out departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the following claims.

`What I claim is l. In apparatus of the class described, a welding furnace, a carriage movable relatively thereto, runways supported by said carriage and a buggy arranged to travel ou each runway independent of each other, one i 3. In apparatus of the class described, a

carriage mounted for transverse movement along the front of a welding furnace, a pair of buggies movable relatively to said carriage in a direction substantially at right angles to the direction of travel of said carriage, one of said buggies having means for feeding the work into a welding furnace, and the other buggy having means for pushing the work out `of the furnace, and means for independently propelling said buggies.

Il. In apparatus of the class described, a

carriage movable along `one face of a welding furnace, two runways supported by sald carriage, a worksupporting trough carried by one ofsaid runways, a buggy movable along each runway substantially at right anglesto the direction of travel of said rarriage for manipulating the work, means carried by one of said buggies for feeding the work into the welding furnace, and means actuated by the other buggy for pushing the work out of the furnace.

5. The combination with a furnace for heating skelp, and welding means arranged at one side of said furnace, of a carriage arranged at the other side of and movable relatively to said furnace, a pair of runways supported on said carriage and eX- tending substantially at right angles to the direction of travel of said carriage, a buggy movable along each runway, means for moving said buggies independently of each other, one of said buggies having means for feeding the skelp into the furnace, and the other' of said buggies having means for pushing the heated skelp out of the furnace into engagement with the' said pressure exerting means. y 1

6. In apparatus of the class described, a welding furnace, a carriage movable relatively thereto, parallel runways supported by said carriage, a work supporting trough arranged above oneof said runways having a longitudinal slot therein, a buggy movable along each runway for pushing work into and out of the furnace, and means supported by said carriage for independently propelling said buggies along their respective runways.

7. In apparatus of the class described, a welding furnace, a carriage movable relatively thereto,y runways supported by said carriage, a work supporting trough arranged above one of said runways, said trough being made in section and the sections being arranged to form a longitudinal slot therein, a buggy movable along each runway, the framework on one of said buggies being arranged to extend upwardly through the longitudinal slot in said trough, and means for independently actuating the buggies in moving work into and out of the furnace.

8. In apparatus of the` class described, a welding furnace, a carriage movable relatively thereto, runways supported by said carriage, a work supporting trough arranged above one of said runways, said trough having a longitudinal slot in the bottom thereof, a buggy movable along each runway, the buggy on said runway immediately below said trough having a neck portion extending up through the slot in said'trough, a boss formed on said projecting neck of said buggy adapted to support a picker arm, the other of said buggies having an arm extending outwardly to one side thereof adapted to receive and loosely hold a pusher rod.

9. In apparatus of the class described, a

'Y above one'of Said-runways, said trough having alongitudinal slot in the bottom thereof, Y a buggy-movable along each runway, the

buggy on saidl runway immediately below said trough having a neck portion extending up through the slot in said trough, a boss formed on said projecting neck of said buggy adapted to support a picker arm, the other of said buggies having an arm extending outwardly to one side thereof adapted to receive and loosely llolda pusher rod, and means for independently propelling said bugges along their respective runways.

In Witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name.

FRANK J. BORIE. 

